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TECH SPACE
PayPal lets shops take payments on smartphones
by Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) March 16, 2012

Sony to introduce 'touchless' smartphone
Tokyo (UPI) Mar 15, 2012 - Japanese electronics giant Sony says its new Xperia Sola smartphone allows users to browse the Web by hovering a finger above links they would normally touch.

Sony calls the technology in the Sola, set to go on sale in the second half of 2012, a "floating touch" user interface.

A number of firms around the world have been exploring gesture control technology.

Apple, Microsoft and U.S. mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm are currently developing camera-based touchless technology to allow users to answer the phone, navigate the Web and scan through photos using gestures rather than having to touch the screen.

Sony's new "floating interface" is not quite the same, however; the user's finger will instead act like a mouse cursor, highlighting a link that can then be activated with a single tap.

But some analysts say they wonder if the feature will be popular or even practical.

"It is certainly an original piece of technology, and may be useful, for instance, when your hands are wet, but we still need to see other practical implications of it," Chris Barraclough, devices editor at Mobile Choice magazine, told the BBC.

China smartphone market to overtake US: IDC
Singapore (AFP) March 16, 2012 - China is set to be the biggest smartphone market this year after shipments in the second-half of 2011 outstripped the US, a technology research firm said Friday.

Figures by US-based International Data Corporation (IDC) indicate China will account for 20.7 percent or almost 137 million units of the global smartphone market from 18.2 percent in 2011.

In contrast, the US share of the overall market is expected to decline to 20.6 percent this year from 21.3 percent in 2011, said IDC, which is projecting 660 million smartphones will be shipped in 2012.

"(China) smartphone shipments are expected to take a slim lead over the US in 2012 before the gap widens in the coming years," said Wong Teck Zhung, IDC's regional senior market analyst with the client devices team.

"There will be no turning back this leadership changeover."

Much of the growth in smartphone shipments in China, and also for the other emerging markets such as India and Brazil, are being fuelled by mobile handsets running on Google's Android platform, said IDC.

"A lot of the Android models in China are priced competitively," said Melissa Chau, IDC's regional research manager.

"That is actually driving the huge growth."

Chau said the average price of a non-Apple smartphone in China sold for $324 excluding telco subsidies last year while an iPhone retailed at a much higher $760.


Online financial transactions titan PayPal has started to allow merchants across the world to take payments using smartphones in a direct challenge to startup Square.

The PayPal Here system uses a triangle-shaped "dongle" card reader that plugs into mobile devices to let people make purchases.

PayPal Here software also lets shopkeepers take payments by snapping a picture of a card with a smartphone instead of having to swipe it in the dongle.

"No business will ever have to say they can't accept a form of payment," PayPal mobile vice president David Marcus said while unveiling the new service at a press event at San Francisco's famed Ghirardelli Square on Thursday.

The service from eBay-owned PayPal is a spin on one offered by startup Square, a brainchild of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Square has been a hit with independent entrepreneurs and small businesses as wide ranging as masseuses and taxi drivers to farmers and bicycle shops.

PayPal, which also announced a major push into Asian markets, plans to capitalize on its dominant position as a global service for online purchases.

"We are going to aggressively push this out to our 100 million PayPal users around the world," Marcus said. "We can accept any form of payment, short of barter."

PayPal Here thumb-sized plug-ins and accompanying software for smartphones are free. Here was being rolled out for Apple's popular iPhones with a promise that a version for Android-powered smartphones would be available soon.

PayPal will charge merchants a flat fee amounting to 2.7 percent of each transaction.

The California-based company enticed merchants to funnel money from sales into PayPal business debit cards that give one-percent cash-back rewards for purchases, ostensibly cutting transaction fees to 1.7 percent.

PayPal Here smartphone software for customers comes with social and shopping features including finding nearby participating merchants and automatically alerting shopkeepers to their presence in stores.

"We want every PayPal user to feel like a VIP when they walk into a coffee shop," Marcus said.

Payment card data scanned into Here devices is encrypted for protection.

Dorsey's Square, based in San Francisco, has been lauded as disruptive new technology since the application and accompanying dongle, the shape of which gave the startup its name, was released in the United States in 2010.

Square charges a 2.75 percent fee, on par or lower than merchants would be charged per transaction if they went directly through credit card companies, but has the advantage of no set up costs.

By the end of last year, Square, which has plans to expand outside the United States, was used by 750,000 merchants and was handling $2 billion in transactions annually, according to chief operating officer Keith Rabois.

PayPal's Asia-Pacific chief Rupert Keeley, however, said Friday that it planned to expand there over the next 12 to 18 months.

Australia and Hong Kong are the first countries in the region to have the PayPal Here system but Keeley said it would soon be available in other markets including mainland China, where the licensing process was under way.

"We're delighted to be the first in Asia Pacific to offer this innovative mobile solution," he said, noting that Asia had a $1.3 trillion small-medium business retail market combined with rapid uptake of smart phones.

The online financial transactions company's Asia Pacific headquarters is in Singapore but it serves many of its customers in the vast region remotely through a network of six sales offices, he said.

Keeley said PayPal was "looking to expand our footprint in Asia" with the opening of new offices in several countries, including India.

Square, and now PayPal Here, eliminate the need for traditional commercial payment technology such as receipt printers and desktop credit card machines.

"The intersection of technology and traditional retail is having a bigger impact on shopping than at any point in history," eBay chief executive John Donahoe said at the Here unveiling.

"There will be a lot of change in the coming weeks and months in how consumers shop and pay."

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PayPal to expand in Asia after mobile app launch
Hong Kong (AFP) March 16, 2012 - PayPal Asia-Pacific chief Rupert Keeley said Friday the US company plans to expand in the region over the next 12 to 18 months, after it launched the region's first payments service for smartphones.

Australia and Hong Kong were the first countries in the region to have the new mobile system but Keeley said it would soon be available in other markets including mainland China, where the licensing process was under way.

"We're delighted to be the first in Asia Pacific to offer this innovative mobile solution," he said, noting that Asia had a $1.3 trillion small-medium business retail market combined with rapid uptake of smart phones.

"PayPal is going to change the way millions of merchants and consumers connect with each other in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

The online financial transactions company's region headquarters is in Singapore but it serves many of its customers in the vast region remotely through a network of six sales offices, he said.

Keeley said PayPal was "looking to expand our footprint in Asia" with the opening of new offices in several countries, including India.

The company currently has six sales offices in the region, covering Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and Sydney. It has development centres in India and Singapore and customer support centres in China and Malaysia.

Keeley said Indonesia was another attractive market, but would not confirm if the archipelago of 240 million people was on PayPal's list for expansion.

The new PayPal Here system will allow merchants in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States to take payments using smartphones.

It uses a triangle-shaped "dongle" card reader that plugs into mobile devices to let people make purchases with vendors on the run, including small businesses that do not have merchant accounts with traditional banks.

PayPal Here software also lets shopkeepers take payments by snapping a picture of a card with a smartphone instead of having to swipe it in the dongle.

In the United States the service from eBay-owned PayPal will rival one offered by startup Square, a brainchild of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Square has been a hit with independent entrepreneurs and small businesses ranging from masseuses and taxi drivers to farmers and bicycle shops.

PayPal plans to capitalise on its dominant position as a global service for online purchases.

"We are going to aggressively push this out to our 100 million PayPal users around the world," PayPal mobile vice president David Marcus said while unveiling the new service in San Francisco.

"We can accept any form of payment, short of barter."

PayPal Here thumb-sized plug-ins and accompanying software for smartphones are free. Here was being rolled out for Apple's iPhones with a promise that a version for Android-powered smartphones would be available soon.

PayPal will charge merchants a fee of around three percent for each transaction, depending on the market, Keeley said.

"It's going to be a huge business for us," he told reporters in Hong Kong.



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TECH SPACE
PayPal lets shops take payments on smartphones
San Francisco (AFP) March 15, 2012
Online financial transactions titan PayPal on Thursday began letting merchants worldwide take payments using smartphones in a direct challenge to startup Square. The PayPal Here system uses a triangle-shaped "dongle" card reader that plugs into mobile devices to let people make purchases. PayPal Here software also lets shopkeepers take payments by snapping a picture of a card with a smar ... read more


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